John Jo / Staff reporter
The novel “Animal Farm” by George Orwell tells the story of animals that displace their greedy owners and run their own farm, but end up greedier than their owners were. The allegorical story gives insight into the author’s thoughts on capitalism and socialism, and the dangers of the abuse of power. Readers interested in political and world history may find it particularly interesting, as it draws parallels to key figures in the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Soviet Union (USSR).
At the start of the novel, the animals on the farm hold a secret meeting in which the leader pig, named Old Major, speaks of the unfair treatment that the animals received from the human farm owners. Although many of the animals worked every day in the fields, the humans left them in harsh living conditions; Old Major’s opinion was that if the humans were gone, all the animals could live equally, and in much better circumstances.
Much of his speech brings to mind the ideas of Marxism, which argues for the common workers to overthrow their economic oppressors. Here, the position of political and economic power is represented by the human owner.
Old Major dies soon after, but the animals carry out his wishes for freedom and equality by rebelling and forcing the humans to leave the farm. After the revolution, the animals think they have won freedom from oppression, and they set many rules in order to have a fair and equal society on the farm. The connections between the story and real-world events are obvious, and well-documented, as Orwell himself spoke of his work as a satire on the Russian revolution.
In the novel, the growing influence of the pigs represent the rise of the Stalin regime, with the pig Napoleon being a direct parallel to Joseph Stalin himself. Like in the Stalinist government, the group in power (the pigs) abuse their power which eventually progresses to overt oppression of their fellow animals. Some of the other animals notice, but they are immediately put down and rebels are defeated and executed, similar to individuals who opposed the Stalin regime.
In the final pages of the book, the pigs can be seen dressing and acting like humans, even dining with them, showing the pigs’ complete corruption by political power, and their failure to the fair and equal society that the animals initially set out to achieve.
Some readers of Animal Farm may feel that the parallels to historical events are too obvious and simplistic in nature. However, the direct satire of the history of the Soviet Union provides a convincing commentary on the corruption of political power in an easy-to-understand narrative. Less than 100 years have passed since the dissolution of the USSR, and the novel continues to be an important part of the educational literary canon.
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